Lifeboats/Davits Removal 2016 and Discussion After That

[Louis De Sousa]

A aerial view from a drone over the lifeboats at Port Rashid

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ex-crewmember/25565612867/in/album-72157690670341204/

[Louis De Sousa]

Love the video!  (Miss the lifeboats.)

She is looking good without the lifeboats

[Scott Ebersold]

No doubt she is, I just miss them.

[Rob Lightbody]

She is looking good without the lifeboats

Everyone here is free to criticise the decision to remove the lifeboats (or anything they do).

Everyone here is free to support the decision to remove the lifeboats (or anything they do)

All views expressed will be respected, and are those of the poster.

[QE2forever]

She is looking good without the lifeboats

I'm afraid I don't agree.

The Queen Mary in Long Beach still has her lifeboats, and so does the Rotterdam. And the Hikawa Maru. Even the Lydia on her beach. They still look like ships despite their static role, and as such they still carry the dream of putting out to sea, and the drama and emotion of those who sailed on them before, or dreamt to do so.

IMHO it denatures QE2. There's an important part of her ship self gone. She no longer looks like she could sail tomorrow. She looks a bit like an incomplete 1:1 scale model from a modeller who would have lost his patience when time had come to fit the lifeboats.

I think what disturbs me the most is that it makes me think of this Chinese land-locked former French liner (Ming Hua ex-Ancerville) which has lost much of her ship character: http://www.chinatouronline.com/china-travel/shenzhen/shenzhen-attractions/shekou-sea-world_154.html

That said, long life to QE2!

[Rob Lightbody]

I'm afraid I don't agree.

The Queen Mary in Long Beach still has her lifeboats, and so does the Rotterdam. And the Hikawa Maru. Even the Lydia on her beach. They still look like ships despite their static role, and as such they still carry the dream of putting out to sea, and the drama and emotion of those who sailed on them before, or dreamt to do so.

IMHO it denatures QE2. There's an important part of her ship self gone. She no longer looks like she could sail tomorrow. She looks a bit like an incomplete 1:1 scale model from a modeller who would have lost his patience when time had come to fit the lifeboats.

I think what disturbs me the most is that it makes me think of this Chinese land-locked former French liner (Ming Hua ex-Ancerville) which has lost much of her ship character: http://www.chinatouronline.com/china-travel/shenzhen/shenzhen-attractions/shekou-sea-world_154.html

That said, long life to QE2!

I could have written that. Agree completely.  If they ever speak to any of us, we can ask them what their thinking was.

[Michael in Cairns]

I would have preferred that her lifeboats be kept, but from the point of view of the business owner, removing them makes space, clears clutter and reduces future maintenance costs, not just of the boats, but the davits and all associated equipment.

[Lynda Bradford]

I would have preferred that her lifeboats be kept, but from the point of view of the business owner, removing them makes space, clears clutter and reduces future maintenance costs, not just of the boats, but the davits and all associated equipment.

Well said Michael, I think many of us feel the same.  I would have liked to have seen the lifeboats kept on the ship as they were so much part of the Boat Deck. Many happy memories of walking along the deck.   However, the ship will be used as an hotel and entertainment venue and we need to respect the choice that the owners have made, even if we do not agree. 

[Louis De Sousa]

Photos of the lifeboats from my friend Andreas taken on the 21st March 2018

[Louis De Sousa]

Photos of the lifeboats from my friend Andreas taken on the 21st March 2018

[Michael Gallagher]

Probably for the same reasons as they were removed from QE2, Hotel Veronica (ex Kungsholm / Sea Princess / Victoria etc) also had her boats removed for her hotel role - but at least some effort was made to display them!

[Thomas Hypher]

Michael, were any of ex-Kungsholm's lifeboats/tenders original by the time she arrived in Oman? Such as the tenders in your photo? Her davits appear to have been left partly intact (the bases of them) and maybe some shade provided using them (can't quite see in photos)?

[Michael Gallagher]

If these tenders were not original to Kungsholm they would have been fitted during her conversion to Sea Princess in 1979 /1980.